Wilford Woodruff, Fourth President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints / History of His Life and Labors, as Recorded in His Daily Journals

by Wilford Woodruff

THE CRUSADE OPENS, 1883-1885.

Exemplary Deacons.—Adam-ondi-Ahman.—Visit to Colorado.—The Patriarchal Order of Marriage.—Andrew Burt.—Farm Life.—The Crusade Opens.—The Family Celebration of His Birthday.—Call of Jno. W. Taylor.—Call of Wm. B. Preston.—Land Troubles in Arizona.—Dedication of the Logan Temple.—A Visit to Snake River Country, Idaho.—Growth of Children After the Resurrection.—Call of John Morgan.—In Exile.—Conference at Fish Lake.

On the 2nd of January, 1883, President Woodruff and Joseph F. Smith spoke at the funeral of Captain William H. Hooper. He had occupied a prominent place in the history of Utah. Besides representing the people in Congress he was one of a small number of strong financiers, who had much to do with the material development of the Territory. On the 20th of the same month he makes mention of the appointment of L. W. Shurtliff, bishop of Plain City, to succeed David H. Peery as the president of the Weber Stake of Zion, at the same time Elders Chas. F. Middleton, and N. C. Flygare were chosen as counselors.

On the 27th of the same month Elder Woodruff attended a Stake Quarterly Conference at Nephi where George Teasdale had been called to preside. A circumstance took place on Saturday at that conference which was exceptionally gratifying to Elder Woodruff and he desires that it have a place in his journal and history. He said, "As the meeting-house was not large enough to hold all the people, some fifteen deacons gave up their seats. Leaving the meeting-house they obtained axes and went directly to President Teasdale's home where they cut up several cords of wood. They then went to the homes of some half dozen widows in the place where they cut up the wood they found there. They also cut up the wood at the home of one of the deacons who had met with an accident so that he was unable to cut his own wood. They continued in this employment throughout the day. When Brother Teasdale arrived home, to his surprise he found all his wood pile missing, but was much gratified to find it all cut up and in his wood shed. God bless such deacons."

During the early months of 1883 a number of prominent men throughout the Church died. It was always a gratification to Elder Woodruff to record his testimony to the character of men who died devoted to the Church, true to their covenants and faithful to the last. He makes special mention of the death of John Van Cott, Bishop William Bringhurst of Springville, Harrison Burgess, Bishop L. E. Harrington, and David Evans. The latter two, however, died about the last of June.

On the 22nd of February Elder Woodruff was present at the dedication of the Gardo House. The prayer was offered by Franklin D. Richards. This residence had been in process of construction for some time and its use was delayed in consequence of litigations begun by the heirs of President Young against his executors. President Taylor was therefore its first occupant. That he himself might be in position to ward off the persecutions of himself as head of the Church, he left his families in the homes he had built for them and made his sister matron of the new official residence. His care, however, proved unavailing since persecution was aimed specially at him.

During their lifelong experiences in the Church, President A. O. Smoot of Provo, and Elder Woodruff were devoted friends. Their associations had been intimate, and in the trying times of early Church history their relations were the most cordial and brotherly. The home of President Smoot in Provo always gave the fullest hospitality to Elder Woodruff on his visits to that town. On the 12th of May he records the circumstance that President Smoot's wife began immediately to regain her speech, after it had been lost through paralysis, by the special administration of Elder Woodruff and others. At that time his old friend related a peculiar circumstance of history that occurred at Adam-ondi-Ahman. President Smoot said that he and Alanson Ripley, while surveying at that town, which was about 22 miles from Jackson County, Missouri, came across a stone wall in the midst of a dense forest of underbrush. The wall was 30 feet long, 3 feet thick, and 4 feet high. It was laid in mortar or cement. When Joseph Smith visited the place and examined the wall he said it was the remains of an altar built by Father Adam and upon which he offered sacrifices after he was driven from the Garden of Eden. He said that the Garden of Eden was located in Jackson County, Missouri. The whole town of Adam-ondi-Ahman was in the midst of a thick and heavy forest of timber and the place was named in honor of Adam's altar. The Prophet explained that it was upon this altar where Adam blessed his sons and his posterity, prior to his death.

On the 5th of June Apostle Woodruff with President Smith, Brigham Young, and President John Morgan, paid a visit to the Saints in San Louis Valley, Colorado. The Saints there were emigrants largely from the Southern States. It was during this visit that Silas S. Smith was sustained as stake president. While traveling on the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad, Elder Woodruff felt and expressed his admiration for the beauty of the scenery. Whenever he contemplated the laws of God or his Creator's marvelous works it intensified his religious devotion and his sense of gratitude. It was to him also a source of satisfaction that much of the work in the construction of the railroad over which he passed was the work of his brethren.

On his return to Salt Lake City the next important circumstance he mentions was the threatened destruction of the great Tabernacle by a spark of fire which had been thrown by an explosion from the old wagon yard just across the road south of the Temple block. On the 21st of June this year the old Council House and Savages Art Callery were burned to the ground. This threatened destruction of the great Tabernacle led to the removal of its old shingled roof and the substitution therefor of an iron one.

Soon after this we find him at a conference in Nephi. As plural marriage was then attacked from all sides, it received special attention from the leaders of the Church who maintained the importance as well as the divinity of the institution. In his discourse at Nephi he quoted himself as having made the following remarks, "The law of the Patriarchal Order of marriage belongs to this dispensation, and after it was revealed to the Prophet Joseph, he was commanded to receive it. If he and the people had rejected it, the Church and Kingdom of God would have advanced no further and God would have taken it from them and given it to another people. It has been said that the Patriarchal Order of marriage has caused more sorrow to the daughters of Eve than any other principle ever revealed from Heaven to men, but this is not true. No divine principle brings trouble to those who faithfully obey it. If they who are in it have troubles it is not the fault of the principle but because of weakness and of the false traditions which surround them. The Lord never gave a law to the children of men which will give to them exaltation and glory except through the observance of that law. The Lord's people who abide that law are entitled to His protection by the oath and covenant which He has made with them. From the day that the apostles and elders published that law to the world with the determination to maintain it, the Lord has fought their battles."